A Little Bit Anxious

It had been a couple of days since Heron had gotten his familiar. Not much had transpired as they traveled. But Heron thought he had gotten closer to Elswyth, just a little. She was rather fond of teasing him. Not that he minded that really.

He had also named his little snake familiar. Kimplewig was rather attached to him, and seemed to have a penchant for climbing in his sleeves or wrapping around his neck. He was getting used to that. If anyone had told him that someday he would have a snake wrap itself around his neck without him freaking out he would have thought them crazy but now he was actually used to having a small scaly body next to his own.

Anyway they had stopped at the last inn before they should be arriving in the capital city of Jarenkul. Heron was a bit nervous about arriving. He really had no idea what to expect and he couldn't even ask Elswyth because she had not really ever stuck around in it all that long. In fact she had only been there the once when she had been hired to escort him there.

Elswyth had totally ignored his jitters. She had just walked up to the innkeeper, requested their rooms and a meal and then walked back to plop beside of him.

The ranger leaned back and put her feet up on the table, utterly at ease. Of course she was. After this she would just be done with a job and be able to go on her own way. Thinking about the fact that soon he would not have a single person he knew around made Heron feel a bit lonely.

Not that he could say that. Sighing to himself, Heron picked at his food with no real appetite. When he did finally eat some of the food, it did not seem to have any taste to it.

After a while, he gave up and bid Elswyth a polite goodnight before heading up to his room. His friend just waved him off, telling him to rest well and be safe.

Heron found his mind going to tomorrow as he dropped onto the bed. What would the capital be like? There were so many things he suddenly felt unprepared for. Jarenkul was so different from home and he was not entirely sure what the capital would be like.

Everything he had ever heard about it came to mind. Jarenkul was the kingdom with the highest rate of crime, and its capital was said to be the worst. Especially theft. There was an old saying that if you crossed paths with a Jarenkulian to keep a hold of your purse.

Now, of course not every single citizen of the kingdom were thieves. Elswyth, for sure, was definitely no thief. Just the thought of Elswyth ever stealing anything was laughable. Thinking about it made his mouth twitch and he chuckled to himself before turning in.

Heron woke up to a weight on his chest. Not exactly a heavy one, nor uncomfortable even. In fact the weight was soothing in some ways.

His brow furrowed a bit, disconcerted by just how natural it felt to have something on top of him like this. He blinked his eyes open, shaking off the vestiges of sleep.

Kimplewig was curled up on his chest. Gazing at the snake brought a smile to Heron's face. The more he looked at his familiar the more he found it cute. Which was actually a bit strange as he had never really liked snakes before.

He lay there a bit, staring at Kimp with a smile. It felt rather nice to finally have a familiar. Even if it might not be the kind he had been hoping for. Kimp was still his familiar though.

After a while he scooped up the sleepy snake in order to get up. The snake loosely curled itself around his wrist as it woke up. It tongue flicked out to lazily taste the air, causing a smile to form on Heron's face. He really had no clue why he found it so relaxing to watch his little snake but he did.

Eventually he managed to tear his attention away from Kimp so he could get dressed. He really did not want to make Elswyth wait on him. She was not always the most patient person. She was probably all ready to get going by now.